When individuals combine their efforts and assets for a common goal, the makings of a powerful alliance take form. Alliances are groups of participants in the Lost Universe who conduct all of their activities collectively and are able to pose a far greater influence on the economy and politics of Andromeda. Such alliances may utilize boardrooms to administrate their presence and make much greater use of the more strategic ship and infrastructure types available.

Forming an Alliance

This is done quite simply by negotiating the creation of an alliance with one or more other participants in the Lost Universe and initiating the group through your Action Terminal. Each founding member of the alliance must post their wish to create the group with other specified freelancers in their Action Terminal within twenty-four hours of each other to be inducted into the alliance immediately, for the alliance will not be created if at least two people do not agree to create it within this period. One member of the alliance is to be nominated as the executor and the others will enter as participants, but the roles of everyone within the alliance may be configured by the executor at any time. You will be able to see and manage the alliance hierarchy through the Participant Roles & Authority tab of your new alliance boardroom once fully founded.

When you join an alliance, nearly all of your assets will be transferred to its control. Stations, blueprints, and knowledge of deposits and infrastructure will become communal and only your ships will remain yours alone until you grant the alliance directors the authority to use them. If you consider this much to be a risk and you don't trust powerful people with your assets then you probably shouldn't be thinking about joining an alliance at all at this point.

Benefits of an Alliance

Naturally, those within a given alliance will be at a great advantage with regards to coordination and general micromanagement but there are some clear strategic benefits to allying yourself with other participants, even if it means taking on their potentially poor reputation.

For starters, alliance influence can be tracked easily on the Tactical Interface, which is an excellent indicator of the group's power, presence, and overall standing in Andromeda. Furthermore, this ability to influence regions of space will permit an alliance to manage its territory with far greater ease through the construction of sovereignty-management structures such as Administration Centers and fleet coordination utilities such as the M1+ Alliance Command Ship. Alliances also have the ability to designate mining foremen to conduct lengthy drilling operations with great efficiency and flotilla commanders to spearhead a wing of attack ships with a degree of proficiency that cannot be matched by most freelance entities.

Additionally, alliances have access to administrative assets, and their research & development capacity is much greater than that of an independent entity. Laboratories, Command Ships, and Administration Centers can be deployed on the field and used to vastly improve an alliance's global efficiency and influence, thus reducing the amount of time and effort required to manage everything under its control. In other words, lazy people build big toys to do stuff for them.

Relations & Positioning

Alliances and freelancers alike have the ability to set their views toward other entities in Andromeda. Through the Standings & Identification tab of the alliance boardroom (or Private Asset Management if you're still alone at this point) you can see just how everyone else you've ever encountered is flagged and how your alliance is seen by others on average. These standings can be changed by the executor and, if permitted, acting alliance admiralty but are best set when mutually negotiated between two powers.

The second element of this aspect is your alliance's trustworthiness. During its infancy, alliances appear neutral gray to others (unless their founders have a very well-known and rather bold history) and must choose a side to earn a colour. Alliances may become blue if their actions are honourable and productive, as with large-scale industry and the destruction of global enemies. Conversely, alliances may become red if they fracture the peace of Andomeda and seek personal gain at others' expense. There is no penalty for self-defense and you don't need to be a pirate to be fiercely territorial, but this system is used to gauge the overall respect of an alliance and how it positions itself in the Lost Universe. With that in mind, take into consideration who you side yourself with if you expect a pleasant welcome aboard foreign stations.